Improved tool for opening tin cans



' invented UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. DICKyOF NEW YORK, N'. Y.

IMPROVED TOOL FOR OPENING TIN OANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,856, dated November l, 1864.

To all whom it may concern.'v

the city, county, and State of New York, have a new and Improved Tool for Opening Tin Cans; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specieation, in whichl Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my inv'entioxushowing its operation. 'Fig'. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan or top view of the same.

' Similar letters of reference in thev three,

viewsindicate correspemling parte.

' This invention consists in the employment or use of a tool provided with a pointed cutlting-blade applied-to one shank or jaw of the same, other shank, in sucha manner that the pointed Lutting-blade canbe easily run through the top or-any other part of atin can, and by tti/e actionof its cuttingedge against the groove of the other jaw the sheet metal is readily and easily broken, and a hole can thus be cut in the pan large enough to give access to its contents.

. '.lo enable others skilled in. the art to fully understand and construct my inventon, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents a tool composed of two parts or Shanks, B C, which are connected by a pivot, a, in the manner of a pair of shears, pinchers, or other similar devices. One, end of each of the shanks forms a handle, and tlie other end one-half of' the cutting device. The, i

shank B carries the cutting-blade D, which is pointed, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, so that it can be easily nary tin can. lhe cutting-edge b of this blade works against a grooved jaw, E, which lis secured to the shank O. The grooved ljaw .may be either stationary or it may be made of two and `with a grooved jaw attached to its run through the topof an' ordif contents. i This tool is of peculiar advantage for opening sardine-boxes or tin cans otthat descripl tion, which are generally used for preserving ifruit and other articles. Such boxes or cans have to be soldered up perfectly tight in order to prevent the access of the atmospheric air to their contents, and the operation ot' opening the same has hitherto been attended with great difficulty and has caused much 1abor, andsometimes the loss of a larger or smaller portion of their contents. A

With lny l ool the opening of such boxes or cans is atte ded with no diicuI-ty. The oper. ation can be effected without the least danger to the contents of the can, and by the pecujaw the sheet metal can be broken so easily that very'lttlev power is required to operate the same, and that a child is er abled to cut an opening in an ordinary tin box or can large enough to give access to the contents of the same.

by 4Letters Patent, is-

as and for the purpose herein shownV and dein the can large enough to obtain access to its liar combinationof the blade with the grooved What I claim as' new, and desire tovsecure v A tool, A, provided with apointed cutting# blade, D, and grooved jaw E, substantially l 

